By Micah Ingram and Isabella Ying
During the week of fall break, Chinese students had the opportunity to skip one additional day of school to visit the YiFan Restaurant and Event Center in Johns Creek, where they could learn more about Chinese food and culture.
Micah and Angelina, who are taking Chinese, wanted to share their experience.
This trip involved 9-12th graders, and somehow all 40 of us fit onto one bus. Driving about 40 minutes, the bus was filled with excitement and chatter about the upcoming trip.
As we arrived, we were greeted by the pleasant owners of the YiFan Center, along with a selection of drinks and peppermints. I think we can both agree that the mango juice was the best, although some may argue that the tea was better.
The owner of the restaurant is a good friend of 胡老师 (our teacher Ms. Hu), and her name is actually in the title of the restaurant. The title 一凡 (yi fan) shows how the character 凡 can be used to mean “ordinary” or “outstanding.” It shows how the restaurant is composed of ordinary people, but the food itself is extraordinary. Ms Hu also touched on how giving “students the opportunity to taste authentic Chinese food, and then learning how to make a simple Chinese food” is very important to a student’s learning.
While we were there, we learned how to cook new dishes, speak new words, and gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and language. More specifically, we learned about Huaiyang food and Sichuan food.
According to Ms. Hu, China has eight major cuisines. The field trip was intended to help students learn about and experience China’s various cuisines.
We began our journey by learning about spring rolls (春卷, chun juan). We were taught how to wrap them, and the significance of the spring filling (收获 shou huo), which represents the new life that comes with spring. Ms. Hu states that it’s almost like “wrapping spring into the roll.” Since we didn’t necessarily make our spring rolls in the spring, we used a special filling that symbolized the harvest of fall.
“You actually have to get a piece of paper and fold it like a dumpling, and then you roll it,” freshman Ethan Liu said. The “piece of paper” refers to the skin of the spring roll, which has a very similar shape and thickness to paper.
Sophomore Atina Chen agreed that making the spring rolls was her favorite part of the trip because it was the longest. We, on the other hand, think it was her favorite activity because she enjoyed laughing at the chef’s shout-out towards Angelina’s malnourished spring roll that was obviously not made with sufficient filling.
As the (春卷) spring rolls were frying, we socialized with each other and grew eager to take the first bites of our 5-hour-long lunch. It seems that some people skipped breakfast before going on the trip, as evidenced by the fact that others ate six whole rolls.
After our spring rolls, we gathered around the kitchen to learn how to skillfully cut tofu to make a unique shape. We used a tofu press mold to cut the tofu into a flower-like shape. Traditionally, chefs would use knives to cut the tofu, but that would have been a tedious process for us on our first attempt at making it.
We then went back to our tables to cut the tofu one by one, and when we were done, the head chef would take our tofu flowers and put them in chicken broth to eat, making a dish called 鸡汤纹丝豆腐 (ji tang wen si dou fu), basically meaning: chicken soup silken tofu.
Even with a mold, cutting the tofu was still a challenge for many. “I messed up on my first try and it came out very small, which was not what I had anticipated,” Atina said.
Making the soup was actually the most chaotic part of the field trip. Students found that their tofu had broken due to its delicacy. Others were still eating the spring rolls that had just been fried while their soups were abandoned at their tables. Overall, let’s just say that the once-white tablecloth was now stained with orange, yellow, and brown. “It was really messy, but fun at the same time,” Ethan said.
After everyone finished their soup, we went back to the kitchen to learn how to make Kung Pao Chicken (宫保鸡丁 gong bao ji ding). The chef added many spices and ingredients, including garlic, chili oil, salt, and peppers. The chef then asked if anyone wanted to make the dish solo, to which Ethan volunteered.
“I was the main character in the cooking show, and that’s a fact,” he told us.
In addition to the Kung Pao Chicken, pre-prepared rice, green beans, and orange chicken were also available to eat. Towards the end, the mango juice had run out, and so had everybody’s hunger. For dessert, we all got mooncakes. There was a red bean option and the more popular option, pineapple.
On our way out, our teachers did not forget to get a group photo of all the students, which we later found out was added to a YouTube video documenting our trip there (Link to video).
When we talked to Ethan and Atina, they both mentioned that they would love to have another field trip like this in the future (we agree). Ethan proposed square dancing, badminton, exploring Chinese games, and possibly visiting a playground. Atina shared that any hands-on experience would be fun because it allows people to “experience the culture, rather than just learning about it.”
